Search Results for: employers

September 14, 2017

Over a third of UK office staff admit they would rather avoid working from home

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

The idea that the younger generation of workers would be big drivers behind a trend for home working is easily debunked as just another millennial myth. A sizeable number of people under 35 who struggle to buy or rent their own home would find the workplace much more appealing when faced with the prospect of working from cramped, often shared accommodation. Of nearly one-third (31.4 percent) of British office workers who avoid working from home, according to a survey by Crucial, those 45 years old and above have a significantly more positive view on the option than millennials (18- to 34-year-olds). While 40 percent of the 45 and above age group said nothing would keep them from working from home – only 11 percent of millennials felt the same way. The survey of 2,000 British office workers found that the most common reasons UK workers avoid working from home are the lack of human interaction (21 percent), the inability to connect to their company’s IT system (21 percent), having their children at home (18 percent) and a slow or old home PC (18 percent).

September 12, 2017

Majority of US office workers demand technology that allows them to work anywhere

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

The majority of North American office workers expect their employers to provide technology that allows them to work from wherever they choose and three quarter of employees (74 percent) would rather leave their job to work for an organisation that would allow them to work remotely more often, even if their salary stayed the same. This is because working remotely has moved from being a work perk to a necessity of 21st century living, claims a new study by Softchoice. Collaboration Unleashed: Empowering Individuals to Work Together from Anywhere, found that 85 percent of North American office workers expect their employers to provide technology that allows them to work from their desk, in a meeting room, at home, or the coffee shop down the street.

September 12, 2017

Third of staff are too frightened to approach their line manager with a work problem

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Third of staff don't trust that their managers to help them with work problems

Nearly a third (30 percent) of the working population have a manager they feel they can’t approach with a problem, while two in five employees describe their manager as ‘temperamental’, one third say their manager makes them feel ‘uncomfortable’, and one in 10 labels their manager as ‘scary’. This is according to data compiled by Citation, which probed the working nation to gather some exclusive intel into the traits of bad managers, and the ramifications employers could face. The results suggest that three in 10 employees have unapproachable managers, with employees aged between 18 and 24 least likely to feel comfortable approaching their manager, and those aged 65+ most likely. However, employees aged 65+ were significantly more likely to label their manager as unreasonable than any other age group. Geographically, it looks like Londoners are faced with the least forthcoming bosses, with Northern Ireland a close second.

September 7, 2017

Quarter of women on maternity leave offered less training opportunities than colleagues

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Quarter of women on maternity leave not offered same training opportunities as colleagues

One fifth of women (20 percent) feel overlooked by their employer during maternity leave and though three quarters (75 percent) see training as a key way to prepare for their return to work, nearly a quarter (24 percent) are not offered the same training opportunities as their colleagues. According to the new research from AVADO almost a third of women (32 percent) who’ve been on maternity leave in the past three years say they’d have felt more prepared to return to the workforce if they’d had the option to do some training; one in three (29 percent) would have felt better connected with their team members and for a fifth (24 percent), training would have allowed them to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their industry. During maternity leave, an employee and employer can agree to have up to ten Keeping in Touch (KIT) days, which may include training, but the research found that just one in ten (16 percent) were given the option to use these for training. This is despite the fact that 72 percent of women see it as one of the key ways to help them successfully head back to work after having a family.

September 6, 2017

ECHR rules that companies must tell employees of email checks

by Neil Franklin • Legal news, Technology, Workplace

Companies must tell employees in advance if their work email accounts are being monitored without unduly infringing their privacy, the European Court of Human Rights said in a ruling that defining the scope of corporate email monitoring. In a judgement in the case of a man fired 10 years ago for using a work messaging account to communicate with his family, the judges found that Romanian courts failed to protect the man’s private correspondence on the account because his employer had not given him prior notice it was monitoring his communications.

September 4, 2017

Parents asking for flexible working face sanctions from bosses, claims study

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

Asking for family-friendly flexible working patterns can lead to many people getting fewer hours, worse shifts and in some cases losing their jobs altogether, claims a new report from the TUC. Half (47 percent) of low-paid young mums and dads are struggling to manage work and childcare, according to the Better Jobs for Mums and Dads report. More than two in five (42 percent) said they felt penalised at work when they asked for flexibility – telling the TUC they are subsequently given fewer hours, worse shifts or even losing their job.

September 4, 2017

Third of sick notes are given out for mental health issues, claims NHS study

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

One in three signed off cases of absenteeism in the UK is related to mental health problems, with more than five million Britons being signed off work for conditions including anxiety, according to an NHS study of fit notes issued by GPs over a 28 month period. The number of workers signed off sick or put on restricted duties because of stress and anxiety rose by 14 per cent in the most recent year according to the report. Mental health and behavioural conditions were the most common reason to be off work, making up 31 per cent of cases, followed by musculoskeletal conditions. The NHS Digital report, running to March 2017, said in 2016-17 there were 573,000 cases of people off sick with anxiety and stress-related conditions, compared with 503,000 cases the previous year.

August 25, 2017

Half of UK workers plan to leave their current job over the next year

by Sara Bean • Cities, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Fifty percent of full or part-time workers in the UK want to leave their current job in the next 12 months claims a new study conducted by Citation. London businesses will be the worst hit, with two thirds (64 percent) of workers in the capital planning on eyeing up other employers. Furthermore, those aged between 18 and 24 are most likely to jump ship (64 percent), and men are 10 percent more likely to leave than women. For two in five workers, it’s salaries that’s forcing them to look elsewhere – this is most likely to be the key driver for 18 to 34-year-olds. Better career prospects (22 percent), drab company cultures (16 percent), dislike of managers (11 percent) and loathing of their job (10 percent) were other reasons given for wanting to leave. With, according to a study by Oxford Economics the average cost of recruitment costing £30,000, UK business owners look set for a costly year ahead. More →

August 25, 2017

Trans employees are not given enough managerial support at work says Acas

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Poor awareness from employers about the challenges faced by trans employees can leave them feeling isolated at work, according to new research. A study commissioned by workplace experts Acas reveals that many employers are not up to speed with the law on gender reassignment discrimination, which protects some trans employees from unfair treatment at work; often it is left to the victims of transphobia themselves to inform their managers about the details of the Equalities Act 2010; and trans people not covered by the Act are even more at risk of being treated unfairly because employers have even less understanding of their experiences. Acas has published ndew guidance on gender reassignment discrimination which helps advise employers on how to manage their trans workers.

August 24, 2017

Too much information is leading to a communications overload for many employees

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employees are experiencing ‘communications overload’ as a result of their organisation’s attempts to keep them continually informed, a new survey claims. According to research by Clarizen, 81 percent of employers say despite taking steps to improve communication among employees, they still lack a way to keep projects on track and provide management oversight. This is because efforts to improve collaboration among employees by opening new lines of communication can have the opposite effect. Instead, employees suffer from the modern workplace malady known as ‘communication overload,’ a productivity-killing infirmity characterised by too many meaningless meetings and an excessive number of emails, notifications and alerts that are devoid of importance, context or urgency. A common challenge reported by a majority of respondents is that employees, departments and teams are spread across several sites, or team members work from home. 70 percent say they need to go beyond creating additional lines of communication, and facilitate better collaboration among employees so they can work together to meet objectives, coordinate activities and monitor progress.

August 24, 2017

UK workers waste over two hours a day on social media and other distractions

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

UK workers spend just 3.7 days out of five doing office-related work, a new survey has claimed. According to research by Rebootonline.com – workers spend more than two hours a day procrastinating; including around three hours and five minutes of a working week on social media. In monetary terms this means companies are paying out on average £8,851.14 per employee for this time wasted annually. In the survey of UK office workers, it was discovered that on average, they were spending 122 minutes a day procrastinating; essentially, only working 73 percent of the hours they are employed to do. The annual income for office workers surveyed averaged at £32,782. Taking this into account, workers spend 27 percent of their time not doing the job they have been paid to, with companies paying out £8,851.14 per employee for this time wasted. The use of social media at work during office hours was the most popular form of internet usage; with 38 percent of office employees browsing social media sites more than any other website; with people spending 33 minutes’ daily surfing other websites.

August 23, 2017

People claim to be more productive outside the traditional office, claims report

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

According to FlexJobs’ 6th annual survey of more than 5,000 respondents interested in flexible working, 66 percent of workers think they would be more productive telecommuting than working in a traditional office environment. Fewer interruptions from colleagues (76 percent), fewer distractions (76 percent), reduced stress from commuting (70 percent), and minimal office politics (69 percent) are the top reasons people prefer their home office. Only 7 percent of workers say they are most productive in the office during regular hours. The study claims that respondents think they would not only become more productive if allowed to work remotely, but also that they would be more loyal to their employers and would have stronger working relationships.